


Homecoming

by zelda_zee



Category: Vikings (TV)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-05-03
Updated: 2015-05-03
Packaged: 2018-03-28 18:48:45
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 787
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3865777
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/zelda_zee/pseuds/zelda_zee
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It is not until years of knowing each other have passed and they are no longer young men that Ragnar first takes him to bed.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Homecoming

It takes such a long time for a man to learn what is important. Years and years. 

If they had been wasted years it would be a pity, but they had not been. They had been good years and bad years, terrible years and triumphant years. Over the course of them, Athelstan had become the man he is now; a man who knows where he belongs and is finally at peace with it.

In another lifetime he had learned that it requires many years for Communion wine to develop its flavor; to be made ready. _Aging_. That was what he and Ragnar had been doing for all these years. Literally yes, but also figuratively.

After all, they had begun as barbarian and priest, conqueror and vanquished, master and slave. The journey from that place to this was a long one.

Now they are just Athelstan and Ragnar. Friends and brothers.

Shield brothers, Ragnar would say, and it is true that they fight side by side and that fighting together has made them close in other ways. If Athelstan hadn’t fought he would not have gained Ragnar’s respect, for though Ragnar has a mind that travels far and is not afraid of the unknown, he is a Norseman and the Norsemen ever and always honor a man who wields sword and axe above all else.

And so it is not until years of knowing each other have passed and they are no longer young men that Ragnar first takes him to bed.

It is easy in a way it would not have been when they were younger and things were less settled between them. Ragnar pulls him close and slants his mouth down over Athelstan’s and kisses him, and Athelstan welcomes it like the unexpected homecoming of someone well-loved and long thought lost.

 _Oh, this,_ he thinks. It feels familiar, though he has never lain with a man before, nor kissed one.

It is easy to let Ragnar push him down into the furs, to pull him down on top. Athelstan doesn’t feel shame as he once would have. Once the door is open, he wants to go through. He can’t wait to see what is on the other side. 

He is not at all afraid. There is no one in this life or the next who he trusts as he does Ragnar. There is no one else he loves.

It is supremely evident that Ragnar has done this before. When, Athelstan does not know. He never suspected that Ragnar was with any of the men in this intimate way. It could have been a very long time ago or it could just be that Ragnar is a sly, secretive man and skilled at hiding anything he does not want known.

“Do you remember,” he asks, his mouth hot on Athelstan’s neck, “when Lagertha and I asked you to join us, back when I first brought you to Kattegat?”

Athelstan smiles. “I remember it well.”

“You were so horrified.” He feels Ragnar’s lips curve against his skin. 

“Everything you did horrified me.”

Ragnar chuckles. “You thought it was for Lagertha. You thought I wanted you to fuck her.” He nips Athelstan’s neck, sharp teeth followed by the warm, wet caress of tongue that makes him gasp. “That wasn’t what I wanted,” Ragnar whispers.

“What – what did you want?” Athelstan asks.

Ragnar is laid out alongside him, the solid, hard-muscled length of him molded to Athelstan as if they are one body, one being. A heavy leg is insinuated between Athestan’s and Ragnar makes a low growl when Athelstan shifts and tilts his hips so that his cock rides along Ragnar’s thigh.

“I wanted to fuck you, of course,” Ragnar says. He raises his head so he can look Athelstan in the eye. He grins, eyes twinkling in the light of the candles. “Or have you fuck me.”

Athelstan grins in return. “You would never have let me.”

“Is that what you think?” Ragnar holds his eyes, and as ever with Ragnar, Athelstan cannot be sure.

They are staring intently at each other, but that is nothing new. Ragnar meets anyone’s eyes fearlessly, curiously. Athelstan has long thought that Ragnar does not see what other men see when he looks someone in the eye. He sees deeper, to parts of a person that are dark and hidden. At least, that is how it has always felt to Athelstan.

“You never asked again,” Athelstan says.

Ragnar blinks slowly. His gaze drops to Athelstan’s mouth and a sudden wave of heat rolls through Athelstan’s body.

“I am asking now.”

Ragnar waits, as if he does not yet know the answer. Athelstan tells him anyway.

“Now, you no longer need to ask.”


End file.
